High School Musical the Musical the Series: Pilot Ep Review

      Disney+ has launched, and with it, many new original shows. One of the shows that caught a lot of buzz was High School Musical the Musical the Series. It is obvious that many people, including myself, were skeptical of the series, and the questionable title didn’t help its case. 

       While watching the show I was actually surprised by how many storylines the series attempted to tell all at once. Form an awkward love triangle, to a character’s parents separating, the writers are doing a pretty good job keeping track of them so far. Although one major flaw that the writers didn’t clarify that well, is the fact that the characters in the series were aware that High School Musical was a movie. They are just normal high schoolers who happen to go to the school where High School Musical was filmed. You realize this later in the episode when the characters watch the movie to help prepare for their high school’s adaptation of High School Musical. 

     Overall, based on the first episode, the casting of the show was done very well. Mainly on the main character of the series, Nini Salazar-Roberts who plays Gabriella Montez in the school’s musical and has an amazing voice. The actress, Olivia Rodrigo, has played Paige Olvera on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark, so she is a familiar face to most people. Her character Nini is in the middle of the major love triangle in the show, between her ex-boyfriend, Ricky, and her more recent ex-boyfriend, Ej. 

       The series is turning out to be more interesting and not at all as corny as everyone was expecting. Most of the characters have some sort of singing ability and there seems to be one song per episode. The series does come out on a weekly basis, so the writers took advantage of that and used suspense to keep viewers coming back for more. This writing tactic is working in their favor so far because it definitely has me coming back for more. 

      After watching the Pilot episode of High School Musical the Series, I can easily say, like most TV shows, it does have its flaws but that fact is overshadowed by the great casting, the interesting storylines, and the good script. If you loved the original High School Musical movie series, then this spin-off is for you.